Amos - For Three Sins of Gaza

“For Three Sins of Gaza”

(Amos 1:6-8, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, March 19, 2006)

Amos 1:6-8 6 Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom. 7 So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her strongholds. 8 I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish," says the Lord GOD.

THE PASSAGE CONSIDERED:
The Philistines did not always inhabit the coastland of Palestine. They came from a place called Caphtor. Caphtor was probably a coastal area somewhere in Greece or in Crete (Deuteronomy 2:23, Jeremiah 47:4, Amos 9:7). As residents of southwestern Canaan, their five city states would frustrate the plans of several generations of Israelites.

There is much that we do not know about the Philistines, but we can say these two things with some confidence. First, they were people of military power. They had iron weapons and chariots which at times gave them a military advantage over their neighbors. Secondly, like the Phoenicians to the north, they were heavily involved in trade.

Our text tells us their defining cultural as cited by Amos. “They carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom.” Slaves were part of the spoils of war in the ancient world. It seems that the Philistines had a habit of selling theirs. In fact, we are told that they sold off whole Israelite communities. There is no note of pity for women and children. Everyone – the complete captivity – was carried off into exile to the Edomites.

Stealing people was a capital offense under the Mosaic Law (see Deuteronomy 24:7). But what is described here is not an isolated case of kidnapping, but mass deportations. Why would people do such a thing? Of course, the Philistines did this for their own gain. The foundation of their behavior was blinding greed.

To pursue such a policy you have to treat people as things, ignoring the fact that your captors are created in God’s image. This God hates, and He destroyed the Philistines for it. Attacked by the Assyrians and the Egyptians, it would be the Babylonians who would finally put an end to the people of Caphtor. After the year 604 BC, the history of the Philistines was over.

THE POINT: The world, absent the restraining hand of God, is a place of dehumanizing greed.

THE APPLICATION: How different is this from the mind of the Messiah! In the Old Testament ceremonial law, the high priest’s breastplate contained twelve precious jewels representing groups of people. He bore the tribes on His chest. Our great High Priest in his incarnation went one step further. He became one of us in order to rescue us. Our names are written on His hands. On the cross, the Son of God loved His people to the end.

A PRAYER: Mighty King and Priest, the world is full of consuming greed, and I have been a part of it. I have treated people as objects to be used for my own purposes, and ignored the dignity that you gave them by creating men and women in Your own image. Grant to me godliness with contentment, which is great gain. I know that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Help me to walk away from that unclean lust and to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, and love. May I live a life of holy Christian service so that the community around me may know that you are God. In Jesus name, Amen.

A POEM

The giants of Gloiath’s Caphtorim,
the Philistines who fought and captured lives,
have forced out all they conquered from their towns
and sold them to the Edomites for gain.

A greedy man
betrays His God,

for thirty silver pieces sold.

Much better would he be if never born.

Amos - For Three Sins of Damascus

“For Three Sins of Damascus”
(Amos 1:3-5, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, March 12, 2006)

Amos 1:3-5 3 Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. 4 So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. 5 I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir," says the LORD.

THE PASSAGE CONSIDERED:
Ancient Syria (or Aram) is the first of seven nations that Amos speaks against. In each case God says “Enough is enough” by speaking of three sins and four. Then the Lord goes on to highlight one type of offense for each nation, and he announces the firmly settled consequences coming upon that land for their multiple transgressions.

Syria, with its capital of Damascus, was the nation to the Northeast of Israel. It should not be confused with Assyria. The language of the Syrians (Aramaic) was used all over the area. While they seemed to shared this with the Israelites, they had different societal rules and different gods.

In 2 Kings 8:7-15 we read about the ruling offices (Ben-hadad was probably a throne name for Syria, just as Pharaoh was in Egypt) and about specific rulers listed in our text in Amos. The brutality of the people becomes clear. Yet they were certainly not alone among the nations of the world in possessing that sinful attribute.

Amos specifically notes one defining cultural sin. “They have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.” Gilead was a part of Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan river. The Syrians apparently used tools that were intended for harvesting crops and ran over people with them. A threshing sledge was pulled by a large animal. A man stood on the sledge, which was a board with iron spikes on the underside. As the animal pulled the man on the sled, anything beneath it would be torn up. This instrument of torture was use on people. Our understanding of this text is supported by 2 Kings 13:7. Because of this God would send fire upon them and send them back to Kir, their place of origin. This happened in 732 BC by the hands of the Assyrians.

THE POINT: The world, absent the restraining hand of God, is a place of breathtaking brutality.

THE APPLICATION: Despite any individual instances of brutality we may see around us, we are a society that is heavily influenced by a moral code informed by the Bible. This means that there is much of the restraining hand of God in our moral order. Yet we share this with the threshing sledge drivers of ancient Syria and with torturers in North Korean gulags. We have this awful depravity in us – a brutality that can only be restrained by God.

A PRAYER: Merciful Father, I have sinned against You, and have shown great malice toward my enemies. In doing this I have followed the depravity of the world, and not the gentleness which is Your good will for Your Son’s church. I think of the nails that tore the flesh of my Savior’s hands and know that my sin against You is not a light matter. Please take away this Damascus spirit from my heart, and fill me with Your lovingkindness. Only You can rid me of my awful sin. Thank You for Your mercy. In Jesus name, Amen.

A POEM

The iron-studded boards of Aram’s men
threshed human lives to dust in Gilead.
We tell our minds and hearts to look away.
Yet cries of people slaughtered God shall hear.

O brutal man!
You slay the Just.

I see the nails upon His hands.

The crucified Messiah lives again.

Amos - The Lord Roars From Zion

“The Lord Roars from Zion”
(Amos 1:1-2, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, March 5, 2006)

Amos 1:1-2 1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2 And he said: "The LORD roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers."

THE PASSAGE CONSIDERED:
Amos came from the southern kingdom of Judah, but was sent by God to the northern kingdom (Israel) with its center in the city of Samaria. We are told that he was a shepherd or sheep-breeder, and one who tended or sold sycamore trees. His style throughout this Old Testament book is bold and direct.

He served as a prophet when Uzziah, who reigned for 52 years, was King of Judah. While Uzziah had a very notable lapse in holiness (see 2 Chronicles 26:16-21), his reign is summed up in 2 Kings 15:1-7 with these words, “he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD.”

The same could not be said about the northern kings who reigned during this same period. Amos ministered during the time when Jeroboam II ruled in Samaria. 2 Kings 14:23-29 specifically states, “he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.” This was God’s verdict despite the fact that there was much prosperity in the northern kingdom during his reign.

All this adds up to a difficult assignment. Thus comes Amos – a man from another land, a man without polish or court credentials – to confront the powers of a wicked and prosperous people who have not requested his services. So comes this man with words given by God in order to prosecute Yahweh’s lawsuit against His covenant-breaking people.

He comes two years before an event memorably referred to as “the earthquake” (see also Zechariah 14:5). The first fact that he announces is this: “The Lord roars from Zion.” There is a poetic parallelism used by Amos. Similar things are powerfully stated twice. Two times we hear of the Lord’s voice, and two times we see the resulting effect. There is devastation among the people of the Lord. Places known for fruitfulness are withered like a fruitful land destroyed by fire.

THE POINT: God sounds forth powerfully in judgment. He is a Lion poised to pounce on His prey and He is not to be ignored.

THE APPLICATION: If the voice of the Lord through His prophet was serious in the Old Covenant era, how much more serious is it when the Son of God Himself comes as the Lord of the covenant (see Hebrews 12:25). Christ came as an unexpected Lord to a people that did not want to hear His voice. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. How loud must the Lion roar before we will listen?

A PRAYER: Sovereign Lord, show me my sin and the penalty it deserves. Read me the verdict and let me hear the sanction. But show me Your salvation as well. For the Lion of the tribe of Judah is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Speak Lord, Your servant listens. In Jesus name, Amen.

A POEM

The words of Amos, shepherd from the land
of Judah, here to brothers long estranged,
have boldness, condemnation, power and love,
beyond the words that come from lowly men.

The Lion roars!
He shall be heard.

Who safely can ignore His voice?

But Judah’s Lion also is the Lamb.